Mick Birchall Reviews

2024 has been a fun year for the music I got to experience. Some acts I thought I’d never get to see and I did, old favourites and interesting discoveries. It’s all been wonderful. Last year, I forwent my usual “favourite albums of the year” list. It just feels so impersonal. I’d rather go over some of my favourites and regale you with some of the best shows I have experienced. I don’t want to do a blow-by-blow, month-by-month recap. I just want to tell you about the year. This year has been a bit of a whirlwind for the blog too. 35 posts to the blog with 12 of those being interviews, the most I’ve ever done in a single year. I won’t lie, I’ve been a little starstruck that I, with my relatively small blog, have gotten to talk to some of the icons of the industry, such as Pasi from Sonata Arctica , Lena Scissorhands from Infected Rain and Peavy Wagner from the grandfathers of power-metal, Rage. I’ve also had the chance to chat with lesser-known names like InnerWish and The Commoner...

This year has been incredibly eventful for the Italian heavy metal band  Virtual Symmetry . After countless miles travelled on tour and the much-anticipated release of their latest album, Veils of Illumination , they are now taking a well-deserved breather as 2024 draws to a close. I  had the pleasure of sitting down with the charismatic frontman, Marco Pastorino , who shared insights about the creative process behind the new record, the exhilarating yet challenging life experience on the road, and how he juggles his myriad of diverse projects while maintaining his passion for music. Okay, so you've been on the road with this new record, Veils of illumination . How do you feel the general audience response has been to the new songs? The feedback so far has been great. I mean, we just released the album a couple of weeks ago, but since the tour at the beginning of November the couple of tracks from the new album we have played have been received well. We’ve started to sell the ...

I think one band that has remained a constant in my life is Within Temptation . Ever since I discovered them in 2007 I think I’ve been on their hype train. I remember it being a quick turnaround to fandom. As a kid and well into my teen years I watched music video channels on TV—specifically, Kerrang . For you kids out there, it was probably the best way to discover new music before the advent of YouTube, social media and streaming platforms. Even in 2007, two years after YouTube’s release, it was still some of my favourite programming. The level of effort that went into music videos was amazing, you’d get some duds, but for the most part, it was a valued way of presenting your new singles. Being on TV, artists only had a few seconds to grab your attention with their video before audiences chose whether to leave a song on or not. It was like the wild west and I think this is where I started to cultivate my music taste. I distinctly remember sitting in my living room one afternoon and b...

The stand-out band of this year for me has been a small independent southern-rock band from North Carolina called Old Heavy Hands . I found their album Small Fires and instantly fell in love with their sound and it’s been in my rotation a lot this year. Their distinct style drawn from many influences made for a fantastic listening experience. I went back and listened to their first two records and I loved them even more. I wanted to get to know them and take a look under the hood of one of my favourite records of 2024. ( read my full review here ) In this blog, I got to sit down with one half of the dual vocalists, Nate Hall , and talk to him about the new album, his influences, the band's origins and learning to find balance in a busy life. MB: So, this year we had the release of your third album Small Fires , which I completely fell in love with. So, what was the thought process going into this one after Mercy ? NH: Well, we had the time to just write and focus on the songs. So,...